Cyclone expected to intensify off WA coast

A Tropical Cyclone off the WA coast is forecast to intensify slowly over coming days but remain over open water.

The category one system was named Caleb on Thursday afternoon - the fourth Tropical Cyclone of the season in Australia.

The Bureau of Meteorology said Caleb was about 400km east of Cocos Island and moving at 13km/h in a south-southeasterly direction.

Forecasters estimated the sustained winds near the centre of the cyclone to be 65km/hr, with gusts reaching 95km/h.

Caleb was expected to reach peak intensity during Saturday, but remain over open water and gradually weaken as it became disconnected from a monsoonal flow and associated moisture.

Despite a relatively quiet tropical cyclone season, there have been many tropical lows driving record-breaking rain in the Kimberley region.

So far this season the bureau has tracked Yvette north of Port Hedland in December, Alfred in the Gulf of Carpentaria in February and Blanche, which formed in the Arafura Sea at the beginning of March.